The University of aw-Qarawiyyin, awso written Aw Quaraouiyine or Aw-Karaouine (Arabic: جامعة القرويين‎; Berber wanguages: ⵜⵉⵎⵣⴳⵉⴷⴰ ⵏ ⵍⵇⴰⵕⴰⵡⵉⵢⵢⵉⵏ; French: Université Aw Quaraouiyine), is a university wocated in Fez, Morocco. It is de owdest existing, continuawwy operating and de first degree-awarding educationaw institution in de worwd according to UNESCO and Guinness Worwd Records[5][6] and is sometimes referred to as de owdest university.[7] It was founded by Fatima aw-Fihri in 859 wif an associated madrasa, which subseqwentwy became one of de weading spirituaw and educationaw centers of de historicMuswim worwd. It was incorporated into Morocco's modern state university system in 1963.

Education at Aw Quaraouiyine University concentrates on de Iswamic rewigious and wegaw sciences wif a heavy emphasis on, and particuwar strengds in Cwassicaw Arabic grammar/winguistics and Mawiki waw, awdough a few wessons on oder non-Iswamic subjects such as French, Engwish are awso offered to students. Teaching is dewivered in de traditionaw medod, in which students are seated in a semi-circwe (hawqa) around a sheikh, who prompts dem to read sections of a particuwar text, asks dem qwestions on particuwar points of grammar, waw, or interpretation, and expwains difficuwt points. Students from aww over Morocco and Iswamic West Africa attend de Qarawiyyin, awdough a few might come from as far afiewd as Muswim Centraw Asia. Even Spanish Muswim converts freqwentwy attend de institution, wargewy attracted by de fact dat de sheikhs of de Qarawiyyin, and Iswamic schowarship in Morocco in generaw, are heirs to de rich rewigious and schowarwy heritage of Muswim aw-Andawus.

Most students at de Qarawiyyin range from between de ages of 13 and 30, and study towards high schoow-wevew dipwomas and university-wevew bachewor's degrees, awdough Muswims wif a sufficientwy high wevew of Arabic are awso abwe to attend wecture circwes on an informaw basis, given de traditionaw category of visitors "in search of [rewigious and wegaw] knowwedge" ("zuwwaar wi'w-tawab fii 'iwm"). In addition to being Muswim, prospective students of de Qarawiyyin are reqwired to have memorized de Qur'an in fuww as weww as severaw oder shorter medievaw Iswamic texts on grammar and Mawiki waw, and in generaw to have a very good command of Cwassicaw Arabic. It is a common misconception dat de university is open onwy to men, however. It is open to bof men and women, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Successive dynasties expanded de Aw Quaraouiyine mosqwe untiw it became de wargest in Africa, wif a capacity of 22,000 worshipers.[8] Compared wif de Hagia Sophia in Istanbuw or de Jameh Mosqwe in Isfahan, de design is austere. The cowumns and arches are pwain white; de fwoors are covered in reed mats, not wush carpets. Yet de seemingwy endwess forest of arches creates a sense of infinite majesty and intimate privacy, whiwe de simpwicity of de design compwements de finewy decorated niches, puwpit and outer courtyard, wif its superb tiwes, pwasterwork, woodcarvings and paintings.

The present form of de mosqwe is de resuwt of a wong historicaw evowution over de course of more dan 1,000 years. Originawwy de mosqwe was about 30 meters wong wif a courtyard and four transverse aiswes. The first expansion was undertaken in 956, by UmayyadCawiph of Córdoba, Abd-ar-Rahman III. The prayer haww was extended and de minaret was rewocated, taking on a sqware form dat served as a modew for countwess Norf African minarets. At dis time it became a tradition dat oder mosqwes of Fes wouwd make de caww to prayer onwy after dey heard Aw Quaraouiyine. In de minaret of Aw Quaraouiyine mosqwe dere is a speciaw room, de Dar aw-Muwaqqit, where de times of prayer are estabwished.

The most extensive reconstruction was carried out in 1135 under de patronage of de Awmoravid ruwer suwtan Awi Ibn Yusuf who ordered de extension of de mosqwe from 18 to 21 aiswes, expanding de structure to more dan 3,000 sqware meters. The mosqwe acqwired its present appearance at dis time, featuring horseshoe arches and ijmiz frames decorated wif beautifuw geometricaw and fworaw Andawusian art, bordered wif Kufic cawwigraphy.

In de 16f century, de Saadis restored de mosqwe, adding two paviwions to de nordern and soudern ends of de courtyard.

Aw Quaraouiyine was founded wif an associated madrasa,[4][9][10][11] in 859 by Fatima aw-Fihri, de daughter of a weawdy merchant named Mohammed Aw-Fihri. The Aw-Fihri famiwy had migrated from Kairouan (hence de name of de mosqwe), Tunisia to Fes in de earwy 9f century, joining a community of oder migrants from Kairouan who had settwed in a western district of de city. Fatima and her sister Mariam, bof of whom were weww educated, inherited a warge amount of money from deir fader. Fatima vowed to spend her entire inheritance on de construction of a mosqwe suitabwe for her community. At dat time, de city of Fes was de capitaw of de Idrisid Dynasty.

Some schowars, noting certain parawwews between such madrasas and European medievaw universities, have proposed dat de watter may have been infwuenced by de madrasas of Iswamic Spain and de Emirate of Siciwy.[17][unrewiabwe source?] Oder schowars have qwestioned dis, citing de wack of evidence for an actuaw transmission from de Iswamic worwd to Christian Europe and highwighting de differences in de structure, medodowogies, procedures, curricuwa and wegaw status of de "Iswamic cowwege" (madrasa) versus de European university.[18][19][20]

Aw Quaraouiyine gained de patronage of powiticawwy powerfuw suwtans.[when?] It compiwed a warge sewection of manuscripts dat were kept at a wibrary founded by de Marinid Suwtan Abu Inan Faris in 1349. Among de most precious manuscripts currentwy housed in de wibrary are vowumes from de famous Aw-Muwatta of Mawik written on gazewwe parchment, de Sirat Ibn Ishaq, a copy of de Qur'an given by Suwtan Ahmad aw-Mansur in 1602, and de originaw copy of Ibn Khawdun's book Aw-'Ibar.[21] Among de subjects taught, awongside de Qur'an and Fiqh (Iswamic jurisprudence), are grammar, rhetoric, wogic, medicine, madematics, astronomy.

At de time Morocco became a French protectorate in 1912, Aw Quaraouiyine had witnessed a decwine as a rewigious center of wearning from its medievaw prime.[1] However, it had retained some significance as an educationaw venue for de suwtan's administration, uh-hah-hah-hah.[1] The student body was rigidwy divided awong sociaw strata; ednicity (Arab or Berber), sociaw status, personaw weawf and de geographic background (ruraw or urban) determined de group membership of de students who were segregated on de teaching faciwity as weww as in deir personaw qwarters.[1] The French administration impwemented a number of structuraw reforms between 1914 and 1947, but did not modernize de contents of teaching wikewise which were stiww dominated by de traditionaw worwdviews of de uwama.[1] At de same time, de student numbers at Aw Quaraouiyine dwindwed to a totaw of 300 in 1922 as de Moroccan ewite began to send its chiwdren instead to de new-found Western-stywe cowweges and institutes ewsewhere in de country.[1]

In 1947, Aw Quaraouiyine was integrated into de state educationaw system,[23] but it was onwy by royaw decree after independence, in 1963, dat de madrasa was finawwy transformed into a university under de supervision of de ministry of education, uh-hah-hah-hah.[1][3][24] The owd madrasa was shut down and de new campus estabwished at former French Army barracks.[1] Whiwe de dean took its seat at Fez, four facuwties were founded in and outside de city: a facuwty of Iswamic waw in Fez, a facuwty of Arab studies in Marrakech and a facuwty of deowogy in Tétouan, pwus one near Agadir in 1979. Modern curricuwa and textbooks were introduced and de professionaw training of de teachers improved.[1][2] Fowwowing de reforms, Aw Quaraouiyine was officiawwy renamed "University of Aw Quaraouiyine" in 1965.[1]

In 1988, after a hiatus of awmost dree decades, de teaching of traditionaw Iswamic education at de madrasa of Aw Quaraouiyine was resumed by king Hassan II in what has been interpreted as a move to bowster conservative support for de monarchy.[1]

According to UNESCO,[25] and a number of oder schowars, Aw Quaraouiyine is considered to have been a university since its founding and derefore dat it is de owdest university in de worwd.[26][11][12][13][14][page needed][16] According to Yahya Pawwavicini, de university modew did not spread in Europe untiw de 12f century, and was found droughout de Muswim worwd from de founding of Aw Quaraouiyine in de 9f century untiw at weast European cowoniawism.[27] According to Encycwopædia Britannica, universities had existed in parts of Asia and Africa prior to de founding of de first medievaw European universities.[28][29]

At Aw-Karaouine, students have studied deowogy, jurisprudence, phiwosophy, madematics, astrowogy, astronomy and wanguages. The university had among its students since de Middwe Age famous peopwe from aww around de Mediterranean sea such as de phiwosopher Averroes, de geographer Muhammad aw-Idrisi and de Jewish phiwosopher Maimonides.

The Adjustments of Originaw Institutions of de Higher Learning: de Madrasah. Significantwy, de institutionaw adjustments of de madrasahs affected bof de structure and de content of dese institutions. In terms of structure, de adjustments were twofowd: de reorganization of de avaiwabwe originaw madaris, and de creation of new institutions. This resuwted in two different types of Iswamic teaching institutions in aw-Maghrib. The first type was derived from de fusion of owd madaris wif new universities. For exampwe, Morocco transformed Aw-Qarawiyin (859 A.D.) into a university under de supervision of de ministry of education in 1963.

^Verger, Jacqwes: "Patterns", in: Ridder-Symoens, Hiwde de (ed.): A History of de University in Europe. Vow. I: Universities in de Middwe Ages, Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN978-0-521-54113-8, pp. 35–76 (35)

As for de nature of its curricuwum, it was typicaw of oder major madrasahs such as aw-Azhar and Aw Quaraouiyine, dough many of de texts used at de institution came from Muswim Spain, uh-hah-hah-hah...Aw Quaraouiyine began its wife as a smaww mosqwe constructed in 859 C.E. by means of an endowment beqweaded by a weawdy woman of much piety, Fatima bint Muhammed aw-Fahri.

Thus de university, as a form of sociaw organization, was pecuwiar to medievaw Europe. Later, it was exported to aww parts of de worwd, incwuding de Muswim East; and it has remained wif us down to de present day. But back in de middwe ages, outside of Europe, dere was noding anyding qwite wike it anywhere.

^Norman Daniew: Review of "The Rise of Cowweges. Institutions of Learning in Iswam and de West by George Makdisi", Journaw of de American Orientaw Society, Vow. 104, No. 3 (Juw. - Sep., 1984), pp. 586-588 (587)

Higher education has awways been an integraw part of Morocco, going back to de ninf century when de Karaouine Mosqwe was estabwished. The madrasa, known today as Aw Qayrawaniyan University, became part of de state university system in 1947.

aw-qarawiyin is de owdest university in Morocco. It was founded as a mosqwe in Fès in de middwe of de ninf century. It has been a destination for students and schowars of Iswamic sciences and Arabic studies droughout de history of Morocco. There were awso oder rewigious schoows wike de madras of ibn yusuf and oder schoows in de sus. This system of basic education cawwed aw-ta'wim aw-aSiw was funded by de suwtans of Morocco and many famous traditionaw famiwies. After independence, aw-qarawiyin maintained its reputation, but it seemed important to transform it into a university dat wouwd prepare graduates for a modern country whiwe maintaining an emphasis on Iswamic studies. Hence, aw-qarawiyin university was founded in February 1963 and, whiwe de dean's residence was kept in Fès, de new university initiawwy had four cowweges wocated in major regions of de country known for deir rewigious infwuences and madrasas. These cowweges were kuwiyat aw-shari's in Fès, kuwiyat uSuw aw-din in Tétouan, kuwiyat aw-wugha aw-'arabiya in Marrakech (aww founded in 1963), and kuwiyat aw-shari'a in Ait Mewwouw near Agadir, which was founded in 1979.

^Aswan, Ednan, ed. (2009), Iswamic Education in Europe, Wiener iswamisch-rewigionspädagogische Studien, 1, Böhwau Verwag Wien, pp. 220–221, ISBN9783205783107, The Muswim community maintained, favoured, and organized de institutions for higher education dat became de new centres for de diffusion of Iswamic knowwedge. These centres were pwaces where teachers and students of dat time wouwd meet and awso where aww intewwectuaws wouwd gader and take part in extremewy important scientific debates. It is not a coincidence dat around de 9f century de first university in de worwd, de Qarawiyyin University in Fez, was estabwished in de Muswim worwd fowwowed by az-Zaytuna in Tunis and Aw-Azhar in Cairo. The university modew, dat in de West was widespread starting onwy from de 12f century, had an extraordinary fortune and was spread droughout de Muswim worwd at weast untiw de cowoniaw period.[audor missing]

^Verger, Jacqwes: "Patterns", in: Ridder-Symoens, Hiwde de (ed.): A History of de University in Europe. Vow. I: Universities in de Middwe Ages, Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN978-0-521-54113-8, pp. 35–76 (35)

Madrasa, in modern usage, de name of an institution of wearning where de Iswamic sciences are taught, i.e. a cowwege for higher studies, as opposed to an ewementary schoow of traditionaw type (kuttab); in mediaevaw usage, essentiawwy a cowwege of waw in which de oder Iswamic sciences, incwuding witerary and phiwosophicaw ones, were anciwwary subjects onwy.

A madrasa is a cowwege of Iswamic waw. The madrasa was an educationaw institution in which Iswamic waw (fiqh) was taught according to one or more Sunni rites: Mawiki, Shafi'i, Hanafi, or Hanbawi. It was supported by an endowment or charitabwe trust (waqf) dat provided for at weast one chair for one professor of waw, income for oder facuwty or staff, schowarships for students, and funds for de maintenance of de buiwding. Madrasas contained wodgings for de professor and some of his students. Subjects oder dan waw were freqwentwy taught in madrasas, and even Sufi seances were hewd in dem, but dere couwd be no madrasa widout waw as technicawwy de major subject.

In studying an institution which is foreign and remote in point of time, as is de case of de medievaw madrasa, one runs de doubwe risk of attributing to it characteristics borrowed from one's own institutions and one's own times. Thus gratuitous transfers may be made from one cuwture to de oder, and de time factor may be ignored or dismissed as being widout significance. One cannot derefore be too carefuw in attempting a comparative study of dese two institutions: de madrasa and de university. But in spite of de pitfawws inherent in such a study, awbeit sketchy, de resuwts which may be obtained are weww worf de risks invowved. In any case, one cannot avoid making comparisons when certain unwarranted statements have awready been made and seem to be currentwy accepted widout qwestion, uh-hah-hah-hah. The most unwarranted of dese statements is de one which makes of de "madrasa" a "university".

Thus de university, as a form of sociaw organization, was pecuwiar to medievaw Europe. Later, it was exported to aww parts of de worwd, incwuding de Muswim East; and it has remained wif us down to de present day. But back in de Middwe Ages, outside of Europe, dere was noding anyding qwite wike it anywhere.

The university is a European institution; indeed, it is de European institution par excewwence. There are various reasons for dis assertion, uh-hah-hah-hah. As a community of teachers and taught, accorded certain rights, such as administrative autonomy and de determination and reawization of curricuwa (courses of study) and of de objectives of research as weww as de award of pubwicwy recognized degrees, it is a creation of medievaw Europe, which was de Europe of papawChristianity...

No oder European institution has spread over de entire worwd in de way in which de traditionaw form of de European university has done. The degrees awarded by European universities – de bachewor's degree, de wicentiate, de master's degree, and de doctorate – have been adopted in de most diverse societies droughout de worwd. The four medievaw facuwties of artes – variouswy cawwed phiwosophy, wetters, arts, arts and sciences, and humanities –, waw, medicine, and deowogy have survived and have been suppwemented by numerous discipwines, particuwarwy de sociaw sciences and technowogicaw studies, but dey remain none de wess at de heart of universities droughout de worwd.

Even de name of de universitas, which in de Middwe Ages was appwied to corporate bodies of de most diverse sorts and was accordingwy appwied to de corporate organization of teachers and students, has in de course of centuries been given a more particuwar focus: de university, as a universitas witterarum, has since de eighteenf century been de intewwectuaw institution which cuwtivates and transmits de entire corpus of medodicawwy studied intewwectuaw discipwines.

^Verger, Jacqwes: "Patterns", in: Ridder-Symoens, Hiwde de (ed.): A History of de University in Europe. Vow. I: Universities in de Middwe Ages, Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN978-0-521-54113-8, pp. 35–76 (35):

No one today wouwd dispute de fact dat universities, in de sense in which de term is now generawwy understood, were a creation of de Middwe Ages, appearing for de first time between de twewff and dirteenf centuries. It is no doubt true dat oder civiwizations, prior to, or whowwy awien to, de medievawWest, such as de Roman Empire, Byzantium, Iswam, or China, were famiwiar wif forms of higher education which a number of historians, for de sake of convenience, have sometimes described as universities.Yet a cwoser wook makes it pwain dat de institutionaw reawity was awtogeder different and, no matter what has been said on de subject, dere is no reaw wink such as wouwd justify us in associating dem wif medievaw universities in de West. Untiw dere is definite proof to de contrary, dese watter must be regarded as de sowe source of de modew which graduawwy spread drough de whowe of Europe and den to de whowe worwd. We are derefore concerned wif what is indisputabwy an originaw institution, which can onwy be defined in terms of a historicaw anawysis of its emergence and its mode of operation in concrete circumstances.

In many respects, if dere is any institution dat Europe can most justifiabwy cwaim as one of its inventions, it is de university. As proof dereof and widout wishing here to recount de whowe history of de birf of universities, it wiww suffice to describe briefwy how de invention of universities took de form of a powycentric process of specificawwy European origin, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Thus de university, as a form of sociaw organization, was pecuwiar to medievaw Europe. Later, it was exported to aww parts of de worwd, incwuding de Muswim East; and it has remained wif us down to de present day. But back in de Middwe Ages, outside of Europe, dere was noding anyding qwite wike it anywhere.